


In Carne

by BearWithAHat



Series: banana split artist fics [1]
Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Art, Banana Split, Drawing, Established Relationship, Fluff, I wrote this instead of working on my other fics :), M/M, Modeling, Portraits, marcus does art time!, more weird metaphors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:12:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23882074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BearWithAHat/pseuds/BearWithAHat
Summary: Antonio agrees to let Marcus do a portrait of him
Relationships: Marcus Ericsson/Antonio Giovinazzi
Series: banana split artist fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1797823
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13





	In Carne

**Author's Note:**

> can you tell I love this pairing? because I do :)
> 
> I have 3 other fics I'm working on and planned to work on today (including my weird horse girl au) but I honestly felt more inspired to write this!!! partially inspired by the film portrait of a lady on fire, which I would 10000% recommend watching if you never have seen it.

It had taken a bit of persuasion and his best heartwarming smile, but Marcus had convinced his boyfriend to model for him. Normally he practiced drawing from photos online or pictures his friends so graciously sent him, however he wanted to get the experience of drawing from a live model. All the articles he read recommended it as one of the best ways to practice anatomy, and he felt ready to try taking his art a step further. 

Marcus was absolutely no expert artist. It was something he had taken up for fun and continued to do when he had the time to, and a few years practice had his abilities nicely coming along. He didn't care to attempt large, super detailed pictures that would require painstakingly meticulous detail; small thumbnail sketches and portraits were more his speed. Sure, he liked to sit down and draw a nice landscape or put a photo he had taken to paper with graphite every once in awhile, Marcus just didn't have the time for large pieces most of the time.

For this one though, he planned to take a little more time than usual. It wasn't everyday that someone as gorgeous as Antonio agreed to sit for an artist, and Marcus was not going to let the opportunity go to waste. Part of him still wondered how on earth he had ended up with the man as _his boyfriend,_ who _loved him,_ and who he got to come home to _every single night._

In preparation, Marcus had pushed all of the furniture in their living room to the walls so that the middle was completely empty. He pushed open all the curtains to let the natural sunlight flood into the room and illuminate it in a way that a lamp could never do justice. Marcus pulled all the white sheets in the house off the beds and out of drawers and strung them up on the walls behind where he wanted Antonio to sit, which was marked by a stool he had set out. 

Standing back, Marcus folded his arms and nodded approvingly at his work. It may not be a perfect studio with the perfect setup, but it looked fine and manageable to him. 

The cherry on top was his easel and drawing bored, with a chair a few paces away. Marcus preferred to stand up while drawing. It allowed him to fully engage himself, plus it wasn't nearly as hard on the back as sitting while drawing was. Nonetheless, he set the chair out just in case his knees weren't going to agree with him about the whole standing thing.

"Oh, I see you have already gotten started," the soft voice of his lover rang out behind him. 

Marcus turned to see Antonio in the doorframe, leaning against it and smiling affectionately at him. The Italian had been out on a long run, and Marcus hadn't heard him come back through the front door.

Marcus grinned sheepishly and said, "I figured it would save us some daylight if I set up while you were out."

Antonio hummed in response and stepped over to stand next to him, surveying the room with the same critical eye that Marcus had earlier. He kissed Marcus on the cheek before commenting, "looks very professional, dear."

"Only the best for you, 'Tonio," he flirted back. 

Antonio blushed and looked down at the wooden floorboards. "I'll go take a quick shower," he pronounced after a slow kiss from Marcus, who watched him turn and leave for the bathroom, admiring the view.

Oh, how he felt like a lovesick Shakespearean protagonist sometimes.

Marcus snapped out of his thoughts and went to get his materials. He gathered a couple pieces of fine toothed paper, charcoal, an eraser, and a detail knife from a drawer in their office, which normally functioned as a makeshift art studio for him. 

Once back in the living room, he clipped one of the sheets of paper to the board on the easel, and picked up a piece of charcoal. Taking a breath, he began to lightly sketch shapes to warm himself up and get in a more focused headspace. Marcus barely let the charcoal graze over the paper as he moved his arm, watching the ghost-like lines appear from the lack of pressure he applied. He let his hands wander over the page, creating circles and triangles alike as they went. He used the knife to create a sharper edge on the charcoal, and then went back in to create a darker edge on the shapes.

"Hey, Marcus?" he heard Antonio call from down the hall a few minutes later. He set the charcoal down and wiped his hands nonchalantly on his pants.

"Yes?" he called in response, stepping into the hallway.

Antonio poked his head out from the bathroom door. "What do you want me to wear?" he asked.

It was a fair question, and one Marcus hadn't even thought about. The young artist rubbed the bridge of his nose as he tried to think what to answer with.

"Um... just something plain and casual is fine, as long as it's not too bulky," Marcus decided after a second. Antonio nodded and disappeared into the bathroom again. 

When the Italian was dressed in a plain white t-shirt and jeans, he quietly entered the room again and slowly approached Marcus from behind. The Swede stood still and put the charcoal down when he heard the footsteps, and he didn't speak until Antonio wrapped his arms around his waist and looked over his shoulder.

"I was just warming up. Are you ready?" Marcus questioned, turning to nuzzle at his boyfriend's cheek. 

Antonio let out a nervous exhale and said, "yes, I guess so."

Marcus knew that Antonio was a rather demure person most of the time. Being the center of attention could be uninviting to him, and posing to be drawn was about as attention-gathering as it got, so he understood why Antonio had originally rejected the idea.

Taking his hand, Marcus led him over to the stool he had perched on the other side of the room in front of the strung up sheets. Antonio sat down and put his hands on his knees, unsure of what to do with them. Marcus stood back and gazed at him, deciding how he wanted him to sit. 

"Turn your torso to the right a little bit, but keep your head towards me," Marcus announced. Antonio did so, looking to Marcus for further instruction.

"Good...and keep your hands folded on your lap," he said a second later. He squinted, took another step back, and looked Antonio over fully. "Try to relax your shoulders a bit babe, you look tense," he said, offering a comforting smile.

"Sorry, I _am_ tense. I guess I've just never done anything like this," Antonio admitted. Marcus stepped back towards him, stopping when he was close enough to cup Antonio's face in his hands. He softly stroked his cheek with one hand, fixing his hair with the other.

"Don't be nervous. Take a couple breaths and just focus on sitting still for me, okay?" Marcus said in a whisper. His boyfriend inhaled deeply and nodded. Marcus kissed his cheek and ran a hand through his silky hair one last time before stepping away and over to the easel, calmly saying, "let's begin."

He quickly swapped the paper on the drawing board for the second sheet he brought with him, and picked up a stick of charcoal. Gazing up at his muse, Marcus began to move his hand lightly over the paper. He started out with simple shapes and lines, guidelines to set down the basics of the picture before he went in with a more detailed touch. A line for the bottom of the chin, another line for the top of the eyes and a vertical line to mark the center of the face. Two circles created the impression of the shoulders, long, expressive lines laying down the curves of the torso, and soon enough Marcus had the blueprint for the rest of his portrait.

" _Marcus..._ can you talk to me? I want to hear your voice," he heard Antonio ask almost inaudibly. His breath caught in his throat and he barely managed to choke out a _yes._

The reality was, he would do anything Antonio asked of him, no matter what it was. Marcus knew he was unable to resist the man in front of him, and if only he loved him less then he would be able to write sonnets upon sonnets about it. But there were no words strong enough to do his heart justice, the same way there were no words he felt could truly describe how beautiful he found Antonio. 

"...sure. I'm putting in the contour lines right now, getting down a more solidified shape," Marcus explained. His eyes shifted between his muse and the paper, spending more time on his model than the paper as it was necessary to ensure that he drew what he saw, not what he thought he saw.

What he thought he saw when looking at Antonio was everything sinful and divine, sinful in that he had absolutely no right to be so breathtaking and divine in that Marcus wanted to fall to his knees and worship him, worship his voice and his body and his ridiculously kind soul. Tears nearly came to his eyes as Marcus was overwhelmed with his feelings for Antonio, and he had to forcefully shift his eyes to his paper for a moment to avoid losing his composure.

Antonio reduced him to a blushing mess even just by posing so elegantly, but Marcus wouldn't have it any other way. It made him feel alive in a way that few things did, even if it was painful and overwhelming at times. That type of sensation was the greatest art of life after all.

"Charcoal is fun to draw with because it is somehow both so forgiving and difficult to handle at the same time. You can erase it pretty easily, but it's hard to lighten the picture up if you accidentally make it too dark," he pondered out loud. Antonio made an affirming sound to show he was listening.

Marcus provided commentary here and there as he progressed, though he often forgot to talk in moments where he got very into perfecting a line or getting exactly the right angle of a shadow scribbled in. He didn't know how long they had been working; time felt both sped up and stopped indefinitely.

Only when he was in the midst of drawing Antonio's face did he stop and put the charcoal down.

"I just can't get your expression right," he sighed. Marcus looked down at his hands, which were stained varying degrees of gray from gripping the charcoal.

"Then come here and look at me closely," Antonio said simply. 

And he did just that, his own footsteps and the sound of his beating heart the only things breaking the blanket of silence that smothered the room. Antonio didn't flinch when he stopped next to him, even when he leaned close enough to hear his breathing. Marcus studied his features intently, noting every highlight and shadow, taking in every long eyelash and the shape of his eyebrows.

The curve of his lips garnered the most intense study from Marcus. He ran a finger over Antonio's bottom lip, tracing what he loved to lavish attention to when they kissed. The sublime lips of his lover fascinated him, lips which could reduce Marcus to a mewling mess very easily. He leaned closer to Antonio and slowly pressed a kiss to the lips he loved so much.

Antonio's self-control seemed to slip away as he finally broke his pose, turning his head to let Marcus deepen the kiss. When he pulled away, Marcus smiled and said, "I'll give it another try."

When he put the charcoal to his paper again, the lines seemed to flow perfectly from his hand. Marcus took a step back when he felt that he was done.

The sight before him took his breath away. On the beige paper sat a beautiful replication of the man he loved. It looked much better than he thought it did up close, and he couldn't tell if he had his own artistic abilities to thank or Antonio's willingness to be vulnerable for a while.

Sitting still to be drawn may not be physically demanding, but it took strength and an unguarded person to be stared at and recreated, copied from life onto a sheet of paper. 

Marcus looked from the paper to his hands, from his hands to Antonio's piercing gaze. Part of him lived in the drawing, and part of his muse lived in it too. He hoped Antonio would let him draw him another time. It had been exciting, electrifying, hell part of Marcus felt that there was nearly something downright _erotic_ about it, though he couldn't place his finger on what.

"I think it's done," Marcus announced. He let the charcoal rest on the edge of the easel and watched as Antonio stood up and came to stand at his side.

"Well, there I am. It's incredible, love," Antonio breathed out after a minute.

Marcus felt his cheeks flush with warmth and he smiled at his boyfriend. "Thank you for sitting for me. I hope you let me do it again sometime," he said.

Antonio grinned back at him and whispered, "as long as you come to kiss me every once in a while like you did today."

And with that, the muse and the artist embraced each other, happy as long as they were in one another's arms.

**Author's Note:**

> yeah I dont really know what this is lol. It definitely got a bit weird at times but drawing people is such an intimate thing thank u :0  
> as always you can find me on Tumblr @esteboo-ocon !


End file.
